Before automation, it was common to form patties of materials, such as ground meat, by hand. However, this technique has numerous drawbacks including the unsanitary conditions resulting from human contact with the material, the lack of uniformity in the weight, size, and shape of the patties and the limitations of per worker output inherent in labor intensive processes.
Apparatus for forming patties overcome many of the shortcomings of hand-forming patties. These apparatus can produce patties in a sanitary manner that are substantially uniform in size, shape, and weight and result in significant increase in per worker output. Representative of these apparatus are U.S. Pat. No. 4,283,812 to Corominas, U.S. Pat. No. 4,302,868 to Wagner (the '868 Patent to Wagner), and U.S. Pat. No. 4,597,134 to Wagner.
Typically, the patty making apparatus has a mechanism that dispenses paper to be contacted with the patty to insure the separation of the patty from other patties and surfaces. Representative paper dispensing mechanisms are disclosed in the aforementioned patents and in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,554,821 to Garfunkel and 3,461,483 to Felstehausen.
Unfortunately, the paper dispensing mechanism often requires rolls of paper that are cut or torn to the desired length. These rolls must be replaced which can result in the patty making apparatus being shut down thereby interrupting the patty making process.
Other paper dispensing mechanisms utilize precut sheets of paper that have a hole in the back of the paper. Sheets of paper are arranged in a stack with the aligned holes fitted over a rod or pin from which the paper is torn during dispensing. Unfortunately, requiring a rod be threaded through the hole increases the difficulty in loading the paper.
Further, patties are sometimes formed longer front-to-back than side-to-side to account for shrinkage that occurs during cooking. Having a hole in the back of the paper results in a gap in the paper that usually is expanded when the paper is torn from the rod. The gap can result in an exposed surface of the patty undesirably adhering to, or being contaminated by, other surfaces. The length of the paper can be increased to compensate for this gap. However, lengthening is undesirable because of the increased expense associated with increased paper consumption.
Also, cutting or tearing of the paper by the paper dispensing mechanism can undesirably result in small fragments of paper being deposited upon the patty.
It is desired to provide a paper feed system suitable for use with a patty making machine that overcomes the aforementioned shortcomings.